York landfill plan raises residents' ire

Jenny McColl's family has been farming in the York district north-east of Perth since the 1920s.

But she says a planned multi-billion dollar landfill just two kilometres from her homestead is threatening the area's traditional rural practices and way of life.

"This is not farming, this is an industrial process coming into our farming area," she told 730WA.

"The proposed landfill is so close to our farm, ... it's just over the fence from our border, just over the hill from our house."

Sita Australia is the multinational waste disposal company behind the plan to turn part of a 1,500-hectare farm west of York into a landfill for non-recyclable rubbish from Perth.

It says the landfill site will cover less than four per cent of the property, will not be visible from the road and will not have any impact on the environment.

But Mrs McColl remains unconvinced.

There will be noise issues, there will be light issues, the lights will frighten the animals, bring in other animals and vermin.

York resident Jenny McColl

"There will be noise issues, there will be light issues, the lights will frighten the animals, bring in other animals and vermin," she said.

"The chemical residue will go on our sheep and our crops. It won't take long for the leachate to leak into the water and flow down to Thirteen Mile Brook, flow down into the Mundaring Weir water catchment area."

Community band together to fight proposal

Mrs McColl is not fighting the plan alone.

She and a number of York land holders formed the Avon Valley Residents Association (AVRA) 18 months ago to stop the waste dump, hiring geologists and hydrologists to run a ruler over Sita's application.

One of their main concerns is how the groundwater will be affected by leaching from the tip.

They claim Sita has misled environmental authorities in the way they mapped the area.

The group's spokesman, Denis Hill, believes there are irregularities in Sita's application.

"It seems the base mapping for the proponent, which was put into the EPA [Environmental Protection Authority], has been in gross error by some 30 metres. Every report has followed that and been based on it has similarly been in error by 30 metres," he said.

Mr Hill was a surveyor for 40 years and says those skills helped him pick up the inconsistency.

"The proponent has corrected some of this information in the intervening 12 months and corrected their engineering plans but haven't corrected their groundwater monitoring report," he said.

"The Minister for Water is going to make his decision based on the same flawed information."

He said expert analysis of the report found the site sat within the Helena Catchment which supplies the region's major water sources.

"Sixty per cent of the landfill base has been designed either in the aquifer or doesn't have the required clearance," he said.

Shire President also concerned, but Sita says surveys reliable

It has cast doubt in the mind of the York Shire President, Matthew Reid.

"If we've got two different levels quoted in a report, which one's correct?" he asked.

"That will be investigated further and I believe the ... Department of Environment Regulation are already investigating that."

But Sita's state general manager, Nial Stock, denies there has been any mistake.

"There are two sets of surveyed data used in our material, initially we went with sat nav or GPS levels and more recently - in more detail - we've gone with survey levels, and in this part of Australia the two levels are different," he said.

"We believe our information on the levels of the landfill are consistent and the levels are really being given in relation to the finished height of the topography of the landfill."

Mr Stock says the different measurements do not change the proximity of the landfill to the aquifer because the depth of the groundwater has been physically measured from the existing ground level through a network of bores.

We've came to the conclusion that Allawuna ... affords the best environmental protection, it's sited in deep clay and provides us very big buffers.

Sita State General Manager Nial Stock

"We would invite AVRA to submit the information that they're basing that assertion on to the authorities in the same way we've submitted our information," he said.

"We've came to the conclusion that Allawuna is the best one, it affords the best environmental protection, it's sited in deep clay and provides us very big buffers, it's at the centre of a big farm and provides buffers to neighbouring properties," Mr Stock said.

The DER says it has received 70 submissions, including from AVRA, all of which will be assessed before making its decision on whether or not the project should proceed.

Chosen site ticks all of the boxes

The Department of Environment has determined that no additional landfills can be placed on the Swan Coastal Plain, forcing Sita to look elsewhere for future developments.

It says it assessed almost 20 potential sites across four shires before deeming Robert and Anne Chester's farm, 18 kilometres west of York, the most suitable.

Now in their 80s, and after 50 years of hard work, the Chesters are happy to find a buyer.

They first tried to sell it for agriculture, but Mr Chester says the potential buyers could not get the bank to back the sale.

"The margins are very tight in farming, very small indeed, and banks will not lend money for agriculture, so the agent brought Sita out," he said.

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